While Double Fine wasn't the first game studio to use Kickstarter, its crowdfunding campaign for a traditional point-and-click adventure game is arguably what opened the floodgates to turn Kickstarter into a household name for videogame fans.

Much of the excitement for the game that would become Broken Age was due to Tim Schafer - one of the minds behind the LucasArts adventure games that popularised the genre - at the helm of a point-and-click adventure game for the first time since 1998's Grim Fandango.

There was perhaps too much excitement from fans, ballooning the game's budget and scope to the point where Double Fine is releasing Broken Age in two parts.

Now that Broken Age Act 1 is upon us, fans will be happy to know that Shafer's sabbatical from adventure games has not dulled his wit. Or if it has, he thankfully surrounded himself with an immensely talented team at Double Fine to compensate.

The story is split between two protagonists to introduce players to Broken Age's world.

Or perhaps it would be more appropriate to call it Broken Age's universe as Shay, the male lead, is found drifting through the cosmos in a space ship nursery inhabited only by himself and an enthusiastically maternal artificial intelligence.

Meanwhile, players also get to control Vella, a young woman selected by her village to be a sacrifice for the monster Mog Chothma in order to appease the beast and save the village from destruction.

So much attention has been paid to seemingly inconsequential details that make all the difference, with an abundance of witty dialog that simply exists to entertain.

While Vella and Shay's settings and situations are strikingly different, they are also similar in that both deal with a young person coming of age.

Part of coming of age means carving out an identity for yourself, and both Vella and Shay find themselves in societies where an identity has already been thrust upon them.

To that end, the characterisations for both Vella and Shay are fantastic as they rebel against the submission and eternal coddling of their respective lives in ways that only the naiveté and hopefulness of youth could allow them.

And through those acts of rebellion, a far grander story is set in motion.

Controlling Vella and Shay through their respective stories is conducted through a streamlined vision of classic point-and-click adventure games.

Pixel hunting to find the right object to interact with is practically non-existent thanks to a cursor that changes shape when over an item of interest, and using an item is as simple as dragging it from your inventory to the character or object you want to use it with.

The puzzles are fairly straightforward compared to the LucasArts adventure games that Tim Schafer is famous for.

Partially this is because there are fewer items to contend with, and the puzzle solutions are more logical. If a rope needs to be cut, you simply need to find a knife rather than finding a rock to break a window to use a shard of glass to cut the rope.

However, the streamlining is also because Broken Age is also quite eager to offer the player hints amid the puzzles. You will know a rope needs to be cut because Shay or Vella will say something to the effect of "I really wish I could cut this rope" when you click on it.

There is an exception from one particularly tricky puzzle towards the end requiring an item that is easy to overlook, but for the most part puzzles are used more as tools to push the story forward rather than roadblocks requiring mental gymnastics.

If you do get stumped on a puzzle though, Broken Age lets you switch characters at any time to make progress in the other's story and return to the puzzle that stumped you with a fresh set of eyes.

The puzzles are all in service of the story though, and more specifically, in service of a script that is written and performed fantastically.

So much attention has been paid to seemingly inconsequential details that make all the difference, with an abundance of witty dialog that simply exists to entertain.

Shafer's sabbatical from adventure games has not dulled his wit. Or if it has, he thankfully surrounded himself with an immensely talented team at Double Fine to compensate.

It's possible to ask the right question right away to get straight to the puzzles, but each character has so much else to say, it's immensely rewarding to dive into the dialog trees just to see what someone will say next.

The visual style is also a constant delight, looking like watercolour painted concept art come to life. Life is the operative word there, with every detail and animation bringing the world Double Fine imagined into vibrant focus.

Without spoiling anything, it should also be said that the ending to Broken Age's first act is perfect.

Which is also to say that the ending is infuriating, with a cliffhanger that makes sense as a stopping point to cut the story in half while spinning the plot in an unexpected direction that will make it an agonising wait until Act 2 arrives.

Of course, that is assuming the second act can satisfactorily tie everything together. Act 1, if played at a relaxed pace while exploring every dialog possibility, is about a three-hour adventure.

If the first act truly is half of the game, there is some reasonable concern that Act 2 might need to be considerably longer to resolve everything without resorting to an overly-expository info dump.

It all comes down to putting your faith in Double Fine to finish the story as strongly as it started.

That seems fitting, considering that it was the blind faith from thousands of Kickstarter backers that allowed Broken Age to exist in the first place.

And judging by Broken Age's first act, so far that faith was been well-placed.

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Broken Age Act 1 will be available on PC, Mac, Linux, iOS and Android
Copyright: Double Fine Productions
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